Visit to BICAS in Tucson

Visit to BICAS in Tucson, a set on Flickr.

Yesterday we visited the community bike shop—more of a combination bike shop, bike salvage yard, community hub, education center, and art studio—called BICAS (Bicycle Inter-Community Art & Salvage).

At 12:30 on a hot (105 degrees F) June day the place was hopping already, even though it had only been open for half an hour. You descend a concrete ramp into the cavernous space, which was surprisingly cool. At least 25 people (not counting volunteers and staff) were working on bikes, looking for parts, shopping for a bike, or just browsing, like us.

BICAS is best described a bicycle education and recycling center. For extremely cheap (or by trading labor for credits) you can use their tools and very nice work stations and bike stands to fix your bike; you can take classes in basic bike maintenance or complete bike-building; make bicycle art and jewelry; buy or rent a bike; or take part in their community-based events and rides. Here's their history:

BICAS started in late 1989 as an organization called Bootstraps to Share. A group of like-minded community members came together to assist and empower the homeless population in Tucson, helping folks attain work, shelter, food, and transportation. Over the next few years, the organization focused on sustainable transportation as a requisite for sustainable work, determining their greatest impact was to provide recycled bicycles and the skills needed to maintain them. In that same period, youth became interested in the bicycle mechanics programs. Thus, BICAS in the way we know it today came into existence around 1994, although the name “BICAS” wasn't used until 1996. We have since extended our bicycle recycling, advocacy and education programs out to the entire community. Since our founding, we have trained thousands of youth and adults in the trade of bicycle repair, maintenance and safety, and restored thousands of bicycles, saving them from the waste stream.

This is the place to go if you are looking for a great deal on a classic or DIY bike. There are literally
 hundreds of bikes, frames, and parts, very well-organized around the big space. We were surprised by the number of nice classic bikes, from a $350 all-original yellow Schwinn Speedster, to a needs-TLC bronze-colored Royce Union that will fix up into a really lovely bike (I think it was about $150 or less). There was also a very interesting 1961 Columbia girls' bike that is a rare "skip-chain." The crank has widely spaced teeth and the chain has wide spaces every other link. We're looking into why this was developed. Certainly interesting!